Dark Knight Opening sequence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0 (Dark knight opening sequence)

There are various camera shots used in the opening sequence, these are aerial shots, over the shoulder shot, mid shot and long shots. The director chose to do an aerial shot to capture more of the landscape and the surroundings below from a birds eye view. They used an over the shoulder shot to get in the characters point of view to see what the character sees. They used mid and long shot to get an overall impression of what the character is about and the use of a mid shot /long shot would allow the audience to make judgement if the character is an antagonist or the protagonist. A two shot is also used when the characters are sitting in the car having a conversation.

In the opening sequence there is both digetic and non- digetic sound. An example where non-digetic sound is used is when the character is about to the enter car music starts to play in the backgroud. The director may have done this so the music would set a certain mood or give a certain atmosphere. The music which is played in the background is quite up tempo, so it may give the idea that things are going to be done quite quickly. Digetic sound is used in the opening sequence when the car pulls up in front of the character you hear the car wheels screech and when another character shoots some sort of arrow gun out of the window you hear it fly out of the mechanism.

The editing which has been used in the opening sequence is shots have been cut and then switched to a new location. Or the shot is cut and then taken from a new angle or height. The director may have chosen to do this capture more of the surroundings and to capture characters from different angles.

In the opening scene there a lot of characters but none are identified because they are all wearing masks and no names are mentioned, but based on a first impression and how the characters are dressed and the way in which they are behaving, you get the feeling they could be the antagonists in the film. The director choosing to keep the characters identity secret could indicate that the characters are going to perform an illegal action like rob a bank or kidnap someone.

The location of the film seems to take place in a city this is because of the skyscrapers and large buildings which are shown during the opening sequence and when shots of the streets are taken it show a lot of cars driving about which indicates its quite a busy area.

From the opening sequence the plot of the play seems to be about a group of robbers or kidnappers who are going to steal something or kidnap someone, hence them all wearing masks. Further into the play a hero is probably identified and he or she has to find this group of bandits and take them down.

The themes which this film gives off from the opening sequence is  mystery, danger and action. This is because the characters faces are hidden in the opening sequence they also have these gadgets which an everyday person would not have access to. Which tells us these characters have access to a secret source or company.

The visual style in the opening sequence is quite a dark shadowy effect which shows the characters in a dark/evil light. In the first couple of seconds the director has made it seems  as if your are walking on air. The genre of this film seems to be thriller this is because all of the characters faces in the opening scene are hidden. The lightning in the majority of the scene is quite dark and dim. Also none of the characters seem to really interact with each other so its obvious that they are concentrating on the task at hand.